Just when we thought we had seen the wildest TikTok trends — the sinus-clearing garlic hack was a low point — we have been proven wrong thanks to the latest viral moment. Say hello to the frozen honey trend. As you might guess, this involves freezing honey and eating it in this state.
Sounds relatively harmless, right? Well, it has its issues. Brought to public attention by TikTok user Dave Ramirez, whose original frozen honey video has over 900 million views, this practice involves filling an empty water bottle with honey, placing it in the freezer, then after a few hours, squeezing the substance into one’s mouth to eat it.
When frozen, the honey becomes less sticky and much gooier in texture, so it can be squeezed out of the bottle, much in the same way toothpaste is. Ramirez describes the experience of eating the substance as “pretty refreshing”.
According to The New York Times, users have also started freezing other condiments including corn syrup and Sriracha to eat while frozen, which frankly sounds even worse than the original. Frozen Sriracha? No thanks.
While this might seem like a relatively harmless movement, health experts aren’t so on-board with it. Consuming large chunks of honey isn’t exactly healthy and in some cases, can lead to stomach aches and diarrhoea.
“When you eat something that’s so high in sugar, you’re going to have an equally high insulin response, which often leads to you having that sugar high and then getting really shaky afterward as your blood sugar drops,” dietitian Sarah Rueven told The New York Times.
One TikTok creator who tried the trend captioned her video, “Note to self: don’t eat three mouthfuls of honey in the morning, it will cause urgent bowel movement”.
Instead of freezing your honey, maybe stick to consuming it with toast or in tea going forward.
“I think like most viral videos on TikTok, it’s kind of, you know, shock value, and kind of silly, but it’s a cool concept, I guess? But I feel like people could be doing better things with honey,” said Rueven.
